Autistic reporter charms Channing Tatum in 'chat show'

Unable to talk, Carly Fleischmann spent years in silence until her parents realized she could type out her thoughts, and she became unstoppable

Canadian reporter Carly Fleischmann welcomed Hollywood hunk Channing Tatum to her new online chat show last week, a show with one major difference. The 21-year-old Toronto resident suffers from severe autism that has left her non-verbal.

Carly’s parents, Tammy and Arthur, were told that she would never develop normally, unlike twin sister Taryn. But when Carly was 11, she discovered a method of communication that suited her perfectly — a keyboard. Soon she was typing, Facebooking and tweeting away, revealing the active, intelligent mind hidden by the silence.

Carly had found her inner voice. Her father recalled in 2012 interview that she had even successfully managed to convince Ellen DeGeneres to read out her bat mitzvah speech for her. That speech focused on tzedakah, or charity.

“If everyone in the world did one nice thing for someone other than yourself the world would be a nicer place,” Ellen said in Carly’s words. “I can’t say that we should be nice all the time because I think it’s sort of like me. I can’t help it when I do things, but I think we should try hard to be nice when we can.”

And now Carly has her own YouTube channel, complete with its own show, Speechless with Carly Fleischmann.

“Would you date a 21-year-old person with autism?” Carly asked the Magic Mike star, thanks to a computer program that read out the words she typed. The question was a smooth follow-up to her introduction, in which she claimed that the actor would soon “dump his wife” for her.

“You are so sweet!” Tatum exclaimed as the interview wound down after questions that touched on the star’s raunchy past as a male stripper, his career aspirations and even their worst fears. The two hugged and Tatum invited her to visit.

“Work that body!” Carly ordered the actor as he dissolved into laughter. “You’re the best,” he told her.